In the company of children

I had been a preschool teacher for many years now. I love the children but after spending 10 months with them I really need a break. Come March and all teachers are looking forward to summer vacation. We are seeking peace and silence with nobody calling us teacher.

I spent my summer break in Bicol with friends from work. Surprisingly, I still found good company in children. Maybe not that surprising but without trying I found myself enjoying a moment with them. It was relaxing as well as stimulating. They are witty and yes far more sensible than some grownups.

On my first day in Donsol, I was excited to see the whalesharks but only got disappointed when they didn’t surface the water. Perhaps with 30 boats all over the place, they were stressed out and hid in the deep part of the sea. It was terribly disappointing but I had been warned. We ate lunch and washed up. I was about to take a nap but decided to explore the place instead. I was eating my clubhouse sandwich when dogs started barking at the sea. It was a little intense as there were only few people and we couldn’t see why the dogs were barking. My imagination was running a bit wild. Is it a sign of earthquake or tsunami? Then, I saw the girl with her 3 big dogs. Two are German shepherds and one is a Rottweiler. The street dogs were barking ferociously and the girl teased them even more when she told her dogs to stay inside the resort. Eventually, she called her dogs and finally the other dogs calmed down. I thought this was my only encounter with her. I was mistaken. After eating my snack, I took a stroll at the beach. I was practically the only one there. I began taking pictures and went far from the resort. On my way back, she came out from her house with her three dogs. The dogs had their ears up and I felt their eyes steadily on me. She was digging in the sand when she suddenly spoke to me. She lives in Bicol and speaks English fluently. She showed me that she was digging out the glass in the sand. She asked where I came from and if I will be staying in Bicol. And all along her dog was sniffing me. I tried to be very cool because I’m really scared of her dogs. Though I know that these are trained dogs, it was still unnerving for me.

little bicolana with her three dogs

I knew Lyle since he was in his mommy’s tummy. He may be impertinent at times but he has redeeming qualities. I actually appreciated him on this trip. We were together during our firefly watching and disappointingly whale shark non-interaction. He is very caring with his younger cousin and shares everything with him. When I saw them eating snacks, the youngest was really hungry. Lyle shared his noodles with him and didn’t mind at all if he had eaten even his share. During our firefly watching, he was his usual self when his cousin said something and he told off his cousin that only an idiotic person would think about that. Unfortunately, his aunt was right there. He was clearly fighting back. He would ask silly questions and when I told him not to ask idiotic questions anymore, he came up with sensible ones. The tour guide was really patient with him but he totally pissed off his aunt. What really put him to sleep was when we talked about the natural lights like the sun, stars, and the firefly. He was leaning heavily and quietly snoring. When we got off the boat, he went to his mom and whispered that he didn’t see the fireflies because he fell asleep. The next day, I enjoyed playing table football with him. Even though he lost in all games, he was very sport and enjoyed the games too.

Lyle

On our last day, I met Theo. A four year old boy who jumps into the pool and never wants to get out of it. I was trying to swim when he showed me his water gun. He lent it to me and demonstrated how to use it. He started showing off his tricks with his gun and urging me to follow him. Later on, he got his ball and we started playing similar to football. Only in this game, we didn’t use feet but the water gun to push the ball. We were having fun and he was really nice and friendly. He is also funny. He told me that he farts like his dad. Oh! Really? He asked me if I didn’t hear it. Did you fart? He answered all the time. He’s one cute boy who takes pride in his fart. His aunt called him to eat breakfast and that was the time when he became really upset. I told him that I’ll be swimming at the beach and be getting out of the pool too. He was sad and we said our goodbyes. If ever I have a child, I really would like it to be like Theo. He is such a charmer!

Sometimes difficult children ruin my desire of having children of my own but some children restore my faith in actually having one.